Seeing Double
by KissMeJamesYouGotItBlondie
Summary: Nick hasn't been right since the last anomaly in the Forest of Dean. He's talking about women that don't exist but he has found a friend in Jenny Lewis. What happens, then, when someone who threatens to break that bond turns up? Where will his heart lead?
1. Chapter 1

The shining silver vehicle pulled into it's regular space in the parking lot. The moon shone, fading slightly as the sun began to rise, slowly into the gradually brightening sky. Five people piles out of the car, all covered from head to toe in the same kindof nameless, colourless goo that smely strongly of rotten eggs and sour milk. They were laughing and talking as they all began to make their way towards the huge building that loomed over them. The building seemed menacing to some people, but to the five people making their way ttowards it now, it was like coming home after a long holiday, friendly and comforting.

"I hate bugs!" Jenny said, to Nick, who laughed. Connor was trying to unattached his arm from his side, which appeared to have gotten stuck with the amount of worm-go that had been sprayed all over him. His nose still hurt."No," Jenny corrected herself, "You know what, I don't hate worms! I just hate THOSE ones!" She said, pointing at nothing in particular, "First they get into some office building, and then, eight months later they turn up in a nursery in the middle of the night! They're really asking for it!" She said, in all seriousness, causing Nick and Sarah to burst into laughter.

"Not a morning person, then?" Connor Temple, a dark haired student with a tendancy to say the wrong thing piped up, making everyone but Jenny stiffle more laughs.

"I am a perfectly fine morning person," Jenny insisted, wiping a gooey hand on even gooeyer black leggings, "But 3 o'clock at night is not morning!"

"Especially," Nick Cutter, a slightly eccentric scientist with a soft spot for Jenny put in, "When we spent all of yesterday chasing tiny little prehistoric ponies around a waterpark!"

There was alot or agreeing muttering and nodding of heads.

"They were cute though!" Abby Maitland, a young and enthisuastic zoo-keeper who had been present at teh very first anomaly said, and Sarah Page, an Egyptologist who had stumbled on one of the most recent Anomalies, laughed.

"Yeah, too bad you couldn't take one home as a sourvenir!" She teased her friend, gently, referring to the tiny and incredibly cute celulosorevus that she and Connor kept in the flat they shared, Rex. Abby smiled and blushed, appropriately, her eyes on Nick, who just smiled at her. He knew she still elt guilty, often, for going behind his back to keep the little flying Lizard who could be the undooing to their operation, but he also knew that she cared for Rex more that anyone on the planet and that she would do anything for the little guy.

As they laughed, Nick pushed open one of the doors to the main Opp's area and they were met by a very tired, very impatient looking Lester.

"Oh, dear god!" He said, rolling his eyes as they all trudged in and twitching his nose, "What is that horrendous smell? Am I to believe that it is the…slime that is all over you?" He said and the team nodded, all looking like naughty children except Cutter, who just smiled like the Cocky one of the popular group at school.

"Excuse me," Jenny said, turning to the team, "But I am going to get changes!" She said, with a smile at Sarah and Abby, who quickly followed her. She walked into the ladies locker rooms and opened her own. There, inside, there were three different sets of clothing that she kept here. For times like this, and times like when she fell into the lake. She blushed as she thought about it!

"Just as I thought!" A voice said behind her and she turned to see Abby and Sarah exchanging conspiratory glances.

"Oh, I don't know, do you Abby?" Sarah said, obviously making fun, "But Jenny looks as though she's got a little colour in those beautiful porcelain cheeks, don't you think!" Sarah finished, stepping forwards and pretending to fan Jenny's face. Jenny simply rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She lied, putting on her most bravado voice. She heard Sarah pout in disbelief and when she turned, they were right on top of her.

"Spill!" Abby said, her face inches from Jennys. Sarah, the taller of the two ambushers, put her hands on Jenny's shoulders and pushed her onto the bench, kneeling on the floor in front of her. Abby grabbed a chair from beside a few of the lockers and straddled it backwards.

"Seriously, I have no idea what your talking about, can I please get changed now?" She said, trying to stand up again, but Abby followed and applied pressure to her shoulders once more, lowering her into a chair.

"I'm not getting out of here until I tell you...what exactly?" Jenny said, genuine confusion taking hold now, knowing what the subject was going to be, but not what they wanted.

"What is going on between you and Cutter?" Abby said, her eyes alight and Jenny rolled her eyes, smiling slightly the way she had done all the time. It was her 'hell no' smile. The one that she had worn when Nick, Lester and _*shudder*_ Oliver Leek had first tole her about the anomalies.

"Oh, please, no!" She mumbled, dropping her head into her hands for a mili-second before she lifted her head, throwing back her hair, "OK you wanna know whats going on?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.

Sarah and Abby both nodded like Churchill bobbleheads. Jenny looked at them, her eyes bright, her cherry red lips curling into a slight smile...Sarah and Abby were sitting up, slowly, waiting for the answer...their eyes growing brighter and brighter, anticipation showing in their features...

"Nothing." Jenny said, dropping her shoulders and standing up, "There, now you know!"

Sarah and Abby were still looking anticipating, as though they were unable to believe that Jenny had really just said it. As though neither of them had actually heard her properly. Abby was the first one to recover, and she did so as Jenny swapped her white-vest top for an off-the shoulder black jumper. She was buckling a belt around her waist when Abby spoke.

"Seriously?" She said, standing up and moving to her own locker. Sarah's head snapped up, as though she had just come out of a trance.

"Seriously what?" Jenny asked, pulling on a pair of black tights and leather boots.

"Seriously, is that all we get, after that bug build up? Nothing?" She mimicked Jenny, unkindly, making Jenny laugh.

"No, that's not all you get! That's all I get, apparently!" Jenny corrected, standing and brushing through her hair as Abby pulled on a pair of blue jeans with heeled, brown boots and Sarah slipped into a fitted, wool, blue dress.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Sarah said, slapping her thight. Before Jenny could answer however...

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Saved by the bell!" Abby said to Jenny as she hurried out of the locker room ahead of them, pointing and mimicking laughing at them. Abby and Sarah exchanged a glance as they exited.

They were going to get to the bottom of this! No matter what!


	2. Chapter 2

Jenny purposefully got into the same car as Nick on the way to the anomaly site, which just happened to be another shopping mall, and only noticed what it would look like to the others after she was seated beside him. Oh well, she couldn't exactly just hop out and say "Sorry Nick, I can't ride with you, the others will think there's something going on!" Jenny didn't even know why they had to take two separate cars. The team could have easily fitted into one car, with the soldiers in the other, but Connor insisted on going with his precious machine's and apparently, Abby and Sarah had to go with him? Jenny only realised their motive when they were nearing the Center.

"Very smooth!" She said to herself, closing her head and leaning back in her seat. She was confortable in this car, with Cutter. It was warm, the heater was on, and the music played softly in the background. Nick glanced towards her from his place behind the wheel, his expression amused.

"What?" He said, the corners of his mouth turned up in the crooked smile Jenny always managed to notice. She shook her head but he persisted, so eventually she took a deep breath.

"You really want to know?" She said, a laugh in her voice. Nick looked at her for a minute, his eyes narrowed. Then he nodded, smiling again, and turned towards the road.

"You know why the others are all in the other car?" She asked, hoping he would get it adn she wouldn't have to spell it out for him. But he was Cutter, so he was bound to not understand.

"Yeah, because Connor has the machine and-Oh!" He said, realisation dawning on his face. Jenny tried to make herself as small in her seat as possible as he lapsed into silence and turned back to the road. She stared out of the window and felt her cheeks burn. In an attempt, she went to lower the window. Unfortinately, this was one of those stupid cars where only the driver can do that. Cheeks still burning, she turned back to Nick, and he was looking at her.

She had never seen him look at her that way. Not when they had first met and he had stared at her as if he knew her. That had really bugged her! Not when they had started to become friends and she had noticed a certain something in his eyes that seemed to only be there when he spoke to her. Not earlier that night, when there had definitely been...a spark? a twinkle? More of a twinkle that normal, obvioulsy, because his eyes always twinkled! But now...he was looking at her as though he was seeingn her for the very, very first time.

As though she was something completely new and facinating to him. As though he saw right throgh her eyes and into her soul.

Heat forgotten, Jenny just looked back at him, unable to tear her brown eyes from his blue ones.

So blue...bluer than Abby's...bluer than oceans and sea's. Bluer than a summer's sky. So blue...so...blue...

It took a while for Jenny to realise they had stopped, but it took less time for her to lean forwards as he did. For their lips to meet. Her's trembling, his surprisingly skillful and sure. Out of practice!Jenny wouldn't put it like that! He was a pretty damn good kisser, if she said so herself! Prying her willing lips open gently, his tongue exploring her mouth, caressing her own so gently.

Never to quickly, never in a rush. Then Jenny felt a hand in her hair, Nick hand and moaned into the kiss. Immediately, she felt the skillful, sure lips begin to pull away and leaned closer, automatically, trying to make the kiss last longer. It was a fruitless attempt, though and she opened her eyes, not having realised they were closed, to see him looking at her again. He was smiling, in wonderment, and she smiled back. She wasn't sure how she looked, but she had a feeling that if someone had held a mirror to her face, she would have looked pleasently surprised, and incredibly red.

She sat back in her seat, and Nick nodded behind her. Out of the tinted windows, Jenny could see the others standing by their car, impatiently waiting. Jenny was incredibly glad that the windows were only one-way tinted. No one could see in! Thank God! She would have been subjected to endless interrogations had they seen the previous scene,and she was sure Nick would have been too. Pulling out a compact as Nick climbed out, she reapplied her lipstick and powdered her red cheeks and nose. Then she gently fluffed her hand and climbed out.

"You took your time!" Connor said, holding out his arms in a 'lets go' gesture. Jenny smiled apologetically and help up her compact.

"Jenny," Connor said, rolling his eyes, "We all know your beautiful, you don't need make-up, and frankly, I don't the creatures mind either!" He joked, and picked up a gun from the back end of the truck.

"I don't think so!" Jenny said, taking it off him as he attempted to walk past her, "Nice try with the buttering up, Connor, but no, you can't have a gun!" Connor slouched, like a naughty child and looking incredibly dissappointed.

"Can't blame a guy for trying!" He said, his face fallen and Abby laughed and took the tranquilisers out of one of the pistols.

"Here!" She said, handing him the empty gun. Even as aware as he was, he still seemed quite pleased that he was trusted to _hold_ a gun! They made their way into the shoppping mall and encountered no-one until the second floor, where they found two security guards.

"What are you doing here?" They asked, looking over the team with their guns, their eyes straying especially to Becker's, Nick's and Jenny's. They all held live fire. Jenny was holding a SAR-80, Becker a Steyr-AUG A1 which had terrified Jenny the first time she saw it. Nick was holding a Shipka Smg that Jenny hadn't been able to carry when she saw it: it was too heavy!

"Have you seen anything strange?" Jenny said, immediately stepping into her PR shoes. The security guards exchanged a puzzled look and then glanced behind Jenny. Finally, their eyes strayed back to her face. She was taller than one of them, he was small and rather large and he looked at her with a kindof longing that made her uncomfortable. The other was a tall, black man who had gentle, beautiful dark eyes. He was the one who spoke. His voice was rhythmical and deep.

"We haven't seen anything, ma'am!" He said, with respect and Jenny smiled.

"Please, call me Jenny! We can take over security from here!" She said, flashing her Badge of Authority and the two guards shared a puzzled glance. The short one spoke.

"But we're meant to stay 'ere!" He protested, gesturing to the mall, "Our supervisor..."

"After you!" Jenny cut across him, stepping backwards and pointing in teh other direction. The two guards moved slowly, and reluctantly began to lead the way to the car park.

"I'm going to go with them," Jenny said to the others, "Make sure they don't decide to stay!"

"I'll go with you!" Nick said immediately, and Jenny caught the look that passed between Sarah and Abby and shook her head.

"No, you guys find the anomaly, I'll find you guys!" She said, turning to walk away.

"But Jenny..." Nick protested, giving up when she held up her gun. He shook his head, watching her go and turned back to the others. They were all looking at him, arms crossed, eyebrows raised.

"What?" He said, innocently.

* * *

Jenny waved to the security guards, who still looked especially confused about the whole situation and slightly suspicious of the team. Jenny laughed to herself as they drove down the ramp and out into the night, fiddling with the huge gun in her holster. She turned and began to walk towards the entrance into the actual mall. And got a tingling feeling down her spine.

She knew that feeling. She was being watched. Slowly, she turned, her head bowed slightly, her eyes sharp, catching everything from the movment of birds in the distance, scared by something, fluttering into the distance, to a crisp packet fluttering innocently across the floor.

She began to back towards the automatic doors, pulling the gun out as she went. She wasn't being watched...

She was being stalked. Hunted. And she had no back-up...


	3. Chapter 3

She stared around her, her heart beating as if it were trying to escape the body that would not need it pretty soon, if whatever creature was out there got her. Jenny lifted her head, high, her chin in the air, her hair flaring out behind her in the light breeze. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, closing her eyes. When she opened them, it was stood before her. A predator.

Her eyes grew wider and her hand closed around the gun. She watched as the predators head snapped towards it at that tiny movement. There was no escaping this, she knew. She had no option but to stand and allow it to tear her apart. She would not run, it would be stupid because she knew how fast these things were, and she would not scream.

She wouldn't bring the others down here and allow the predators to tear them to bits too. She would stand tall to her death. She was Jenny Lewis, of course.

As these thoughts were passing through her racing mind, the predator had approached slowly and was sniffing at her leg, her hand, her neck. She knew she would be dead in a second. It might even be so quick that she wouldn't feel anything, but she doubted it. She waited...

And the predator began to retreat, turning and walked away. Her eyes grew even wider than she had been and she blinked. It was walking away?

But why? It had most probably decided that there wasn't enough meat on Jenny's lean figure and decided she wasn't worth her trouble. Jenny, though, was still in a dilemma. If she stepped backwards, the automatic doors would open and the predator would surely wheel around and attack her. She knew that there was a door down the other end of the car-park that was silent and opened and closed smoothly. She knew this because it was the door they had come through earlier. She moved her foot, slowly, and began to edge, inch by inch, towards the door. She crouched behind the nearest car, probably here because the mall shared the car-park with a near-by cinema, and waited.

The predator seemed not to have noticed her movement and was still retreating, it's face averted from Jenny. A thought passed through her head and, making her mind up quickly, she held up the gun and pulled back the trigger. It rebounded off the tiles beside the predators neck and the creature wheeled around, sniffing wildly at the air. Jenny felt like ice had been injected into her veins.

She backed up against the wall, dropping the gun. The door was close...but the predator was fast and it was walking towards her again. She had to make her mind up. She ran.

Her boots pounded on the floor, her heels not affecting her in her panic and burst of adrenalin. She found herself able to run faster than she ever had before, but the predator was faster and she could hear it gaining on her.

The door was coming closer..she could touch the handle, grasped it, and felt herself being pulled back. It was dragging her by it's teeth, ripping her jumper. She slipped to the floor, trying to grab the fabric from the sharp layers and layers of the predators teeth.

She could hear screaming and realised that it was her, but she didn't bother to even try to stop herself. She screamed louder and allowed tears to spill onto her cheeks. She was crying now, flailing her legs and trying to drag herself back with her hands, to no avail.

She realised what she was screaming, though it was coming out as though it was one word.

"NICK!NIIIIIICK!" She yelled, and heard someone shout. The predator rebounded as something whacked the back of it's head and Jenny felt someone pull her up by her under-arms as the Predator began to race towards Connor, Abby and Sarah, who all shot. Abby and Sarah missed and Connor, who aimed and shot towards the right place had no fire.

Nick yanked his gun from his belt, one arm still around Jenny and fired as the predator closed it's teeth around Sarah's ankle. She screeched as the teeth dug in, but the predator was dead before it could do any serious damage. Jenny felt herself sink into Nick's arms and went into complete hysterics.

He was clutching her tightly, running his fingers through her tangled hair and rubbing her back, trying to pull her closer though she was sure it was impossible. Not caring that the others were watching, she tilted her head upwards and immediately, Nick's mouth decended on hers, sending her into fresh tears as he clutched her. She could feel new wetness on her cheeks and when they broke apart, she could see that Nick was crying too.

They turned and raced towards the others. Sarah was being held up by Becker. She appeared to have fainted. Nick turned to Becker and spoke to him in a level voice, though Jenny could still see the tears gleaming on his cheeks and more, unspilled, in his crystal blue eyes.

"Take her back to the ARC, to the hospital wing!" He ordered and Becker nodded and set of in search of the car. He turned to Jenny and put his hands on her shoulder. She was staring at the predator, who had blood from Sarah's leg around it's jaws and was laying with it's head turned towards her, as though it was looking at her.

"Jenny..." He said, with no responce, so he tried again, "Jenny, look at me!" He begged and she did, hyperventalating.

"Jenny, you have to calm down, OK?" He said, his voice urgent and he coached her through bringing her heartrate back to normal, when she was breathing normally again he asked her, "Are you OK?" and she nodded and though he looked thoroughly unconvinced, he didn't argue when she claimed to be well enough to go with them.

He kept her close to him as they made their way through the shopping mall and he was always the first to round the corners, his gun in front of him. They encountered nothing as they made their way towards the anomaly that beeped surely on Connor's hand-held detector. He was ranting at Abby.

"See, if you'd let me have a bloody gun, Sarah wouldn't have a bloody, probably broken ankle, would she!" He was saying, accusingly.

"Fine, I'm sorry Connor!" Abby snapped, finally, "OKAY?"

"NO, actually!" Connor said and began on another rant but was silenced by Nick who said:

"Guys, can you save your couple stuff for after the anomaly!" He said. Abby and Connor spoke together.

"We're not a couple!" Abby said, automatically defensive.

"You can talk!" Connor said, under his breath and both Nick and Jenny ignored him, not looking at eachother.

When they came to the anomaly, it looked fairly ordinary, if Anomalies can ever be called 'ordinary' in the literal sense of the word! Connor and Nick helped a few of the soldiers lift the locking-mechanism out of the box and set it up around the anomaly.

Jenny and Abby sat on one of the benches that bordered a large tree in the center and sat back on the seats. As Jenny watched the boys set up the mechanism, the anomaly began to bulge.

"Guys..." She started, and then shook her head.

At first, Jenny couldn't be sure she had actually seen it, she leaned closer and looked at it, hard. The next bulge was much more obvious.

"GUYS!" She shouted as something emerged from the anomaly. It was a woman, but that didn't mean that Jenny's caution and panick was waisted. It could have been Helen!

It wasn't!

Jenny stood up, slowly and Nick raised himself from the floor. Connor stumbled backwards in his surprise and Abby had to catch him so he didn't fall, causing them both to end up fairly close to the ground. She was tall, brown eyes and red haired. Apart from the hair she was just like...

"Me?" Jenny said, but as she glanced from Cutter to the woman, she saw something in Cutter's expression that made something inside her break. She knew who this was.

"Claudia Brown!"


	4. Chapter 4

It was Nick who had spoken and it was as if his voice brought everyone back to life. Abby and Connor scurried on the floor before standing up, awkwardly as if they were out of place. Abby was studying Claudia with an absurd expression. Connor was glancing from Claudia to Jenny as if they were playing an endless game of tennis. Jenny gaped at Claudia, open mouthed. Claudia, however, seemed fairly unaware of Jenny's presence.

She swayed, lightly on the spot as if she were intoxicated and gasped.

"Nick..." She breathed before collapsing. Nick caught her before she hit the floor and Jenny watched as he lifted her still form from the floor. He looked down at her, his eyes wide with disbelief, fresh tears in his eyes.

They turned guilty and pained when he looked back at Jenny and saw her expression. She knew what had broken when she saw the way he looked at his Claudia. She turned to Abby and Connor.

"I'm riding back to teh ARC with you!" She said, and turned to the soldiers, "We're going to take _Miss Brown _back to the ARC, lock this, check the Mall and then phone Lester, explain what's happened and ask him for your next order!"

And with that, she stormed away.

How could he?

How _could_ he! She knew she may be being slightly irrational, but she didn't feel it at the moment. Right now, she felt positively cheated! She felt as though her heart had been ripped from her chest and then stabbed over and over! Then thrown to the floor and troden on by people who didn't even care. She felt as though Abby and Connor were laughing at her as they drove back to the ARC though she knew, somewhere in her hormonal mind that that was not the case, that they felt for her and that, on the drive, no one spoke so much as a word.

She saw Nick climb out of his car when they arrived and watched him out of the corner of her eye as she made her way towards the entrance to the building. He seemed to take a step in her direction, but she only walked faster. She didn't want to speak to him, or anyone, so she made straight for the Hospital Wing.

If anyone needed her, they would find her there eventually. If..._anyone_ really wanted to speak to her for any _particular reason!_ They too, would find her. If they tried hard enough.

She found herself feeling angry at herself as she walked towards the hospital wing. She stopped and leaned against the door of a locked cupboard and put a hand to her forehead, covering her eyes. Why had she reacted that way? It was just a couple of kisses! Literally, just two! It shouldn't mean as much as it did! But even Jenny knew that it was more than that. It was...something major! To her at least, and it was more than just two kisses, it went much deeper than that! It went deep inside her and penetrated the most intimate part of her, taking hold of every last fibre of her being. Something...some un-namable force that she and Nick were connected by, it had affected her. Apparently, though, Nick didn't feel the same. She was pulled out of her thoughts by Becker emerging from the Hospital Wing.

"Jenny?" He said, looking over her as she adjusted her ripped jumper and wiped her eyes, which had started to water again. "Jenny, are you alright?"

"Wha..? Yeah, yeah, course-I'm fine!" She said and she could tell by his expression that she hadn't done a very good job of convincing him. She quickly tried to amend this by asking: "Is Sarah OK?"

"Yeah, the doctor said she should be OK!" He said, still looking at her with curious eyes, "She's awake..."

"She's awake? Right, well I'll go see her then!" She said, slipping between him and the wall to get to the door before he could speak or try and stop her.

She leaned on the wall on the inside of the door and dropped her head again.

"Jenny?" She sighed to herself as Sarah called her over. She lifted her head, automatically plastering it into a false smile. She was going to avoid being interrogated as much as she could.

"Hey, you!" She said to Sarah, walking to her friend and sitting on her bed. She looked over Sarah's leg, which was on top of the thick, comfortable looking duvet cover. It was surprisingly nice for a hospital bed. The foot was wrapped in a bandage and looking more gruesome for it.

"It's OK, apparently," Sarah said, rolling her eyes in the direction of the doctor, "But what do they know, ey!" She said raising herself onto her elbows.

"Are you stuck here?" Jenny said, surprised by how easy it was to talk to Sarah, though her insides were in complete turmoil. Sarah shook her head, proudle.

"I'm allowed out tonight, I just have to wait for the stupid Doctor to do whatever he's doing right now!" Jenny laughed at her friends blase attitude and Sarah's eyes narrowed.

"OK, what's up?" She asked and Jenny stared at her in disbelief, "Come on, Jenny, I've known you nearly three months now, I know when there's something wrong, you're always waaaaaay too perky when something's bothering you so come on, spill it!" Jenny sighed and opened her mouth to explain.

The door banged open and Jenny stood up abruptly.

"Can we talk?" Nick said, and she groaned.


	5. Chapter 5

"OK, Nick," Jenny said as Connor and Abby appeared behind Nick, stumbling to a halt after obviously racing the entire way. They looked from Nick to Jenny and then scuttled into the room, sitting beside Sarah, behind Jenny.

She felt empowered then, with the others behind her, as if they were her back-up and it was a creature she was facing instead of Nick, who just an hour ago had been all that made everything right. She glared at him and saw him falter slightly under her gaze. Stepping forwards, she gestured around.

"Go on, what do you wanna talk about?" She said, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head to one side, raising her eyebrows. Nick just looked at her so she laughed to ehrself, sarcastically, they stormed out.

"Jenny!" Several voices called but she ignored them and kept walking. Why did he have to follow her? She had been calming down, beginning to see things clearly, and then he turned up and sent everything whirling into oblivion once again. The look in those eyes...the expression on his face, he looked positively haunted! Like a broken man, though Jenny wondered how he could look that way when he'd just got back the woman he had pined for for months.

She walked through the ARC, ignoring people who tried to speak to her and barging into people. She heard the hurried questions that people asked her but she ignored them, in no mood to answer them. She didn't even know if she had the strength to answer the questions of curious and confused people. She knew what most of the questions would be about and was in no frame of mind to answer. She knew that if anyone asked her anything about Claudia or Nick then she would blow up at them and probably offend them heavily.

She threw her hands up in exasperation when she heard footsteps behind her. Turning, almost bocking herself off balance from a sudden wave of vertigo. Strong arms immediately went around her but she struggled. She felt him try and hold her and almost drooped into his strong, warm embrace, wanting him to make it all OK and wanting to feel safe and reassured. But she knew she would never feel that way with him again. Everything had changed between them, when he had looked at Claudia that way. Jenny didn't think she was being irrational anymore, she knew she was right.

There was nothing he could say or do that would change the way she felt, nothing. Because he had broken it. He had broken what was between them, destroyed it with one false movement, and Jenny was powerless to change it.

"Jenny.." She heard Nick say, but she batted at his arms, screaming at him.

"Let go of me!" She demanded and eventually he stepped backwards. She looked around and saw Abby, Connor and Sarah were there, the latter being supported by the other two.

"Nick..." She began. but her voice didn't come out the way she meant it. She meant to sound angry and frustrated but her voice came out small and broken. She lifted her eyes to his, her long lashes dripping tears once again. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then stopped. Another wave of anger took over Jenny.

"You said you wanted to talk!" She said, and he stepped back, shocked by the change in her tone, "So how about I pick a topic!" She said, taking an uncautioned step forwards and coking her head again. She lifted a hand from her hips and held it out in a gesture of false surprise.

"Oh, why don't we talk about Claudia!" She said and Nick groaned, "Yeah," She stepped forwards again, "Lets talk about how great she is! How did it feel when she stepped through the anomaly Nick? How wonderful did it feel when you realised you had your 'one true love' back!" Another step. "How do you feel right now, knowing that she's gonna wake up and see you and her face is gonna light up! You tend to have that affect on Women don't you!"

"Why don't you tell me how close you were last time you were together! Was she a better kisser than me?" Jenny threw at him, "Was she good? How was she in bed, Nick, why don't we talk about that!"

She was stood right in front of Nick now and a crowd had formed, but she didn't care. She could see Abby, Connor, Sarah, Becker and Lester now. They were looking between Nick, who had stayed completely silent up to now, and Jenny who was crying freely.

Or why don't you tell me how the hell she gets you too look at her the way you do, because I sure as hell can't do that!" Nick just looked at her when she said that, her eyes gleaming as she looked at him. Nick's eyes were filled with pain, she could see and she smiled to herself, sourly.

Good, she thought, let him feel all the pain he's caused for me! It seemed like so much longer than an hour ago that she had been happy to have his arms around him, to kiss him and smile freely at him.

Everything was different now.

Jenny scoffed, hopelessly and turned to walk away but a hand closed around her wrist and she felt herself being spun around. The next second, she was being kissed and she had to fight to pull herself away. She lifted her hand, swiftly and threw it across Nick's face with all of the power she could muster, causing a great red mark to appear immediately.

"How dare you!" She spat at him, disgust in her voice, "We're done, Nick," She said, simply, taking a step back, "It's Over!"


	6. Chapter 6

The crying had stopped a while ago, replaced by anger that had caused Jenny to throw several things across her living room. A few of the items broken or damaged on the floor included several books, a fruit bowl and three oranges and a glass. Jenny ignored them as she made her way into the lounge after retrieving a bottle of Cava, red, and a fresh, unbroken glass.

She wiped a hand across her mouth and threw herself down on the sofa. She didn't feel like herself right now. Jenny Lewis, a high-class, well dressed, well spoken girl, was a mess.

She was wearing a black and pink, silken night-dress and an equally see-through dressing gown. Throwing her head back, she practically threw her drink down her throat, coughing when the wine hit her and sent her into the briefest of dizziespells. She lay full length down the couch and switched on the television. There was nothing interesting there...

Casting her mind around for something to do, she found nothing. She knew she was going to have to stand up and face the music sometime, she just also knew that she was going to put off thinking about Nick Cutter and Claudia Brown for as long as possible.

Really, though, who did she think she was? Turning up in this world, a world where she didn't even belong, and practically ruining Jenny's life! Everything was going perfect until she showed up! She and Nick were even on the right road! A fresh wave of anger whipped through Jenny and she stood up, the strap of her night-gown falling off her shoulder, and launched her second glass at the wall. She searched for something else to throw and the remote caught her eye. She threw that and it landed, broken, on the floor, after switching the television onto some rock-music chanel.

Jenny cast a disgusted look at the television and walked towards it to cut off the annoying sound, her anger having mainly dissipated. She sighed, switched off the lounge light and began to make her way to bed.

"Jenny," She said to her mirror, which resided at the bottom of the stairs, "I think you're a little bit of a mess!"

She had reached the landing when the doorbell rang, and she ignored it, leaning on the banister, but when the bell rang again, and again, incessantly, she cursed and began to make her way to the door, holding her dressing gown around her, though it had followed her night-gown and fallen from her shoulder, leaving her neck bare.

"Wha-?" She beganb as she opened the door, but when she saw who was stood there, though she wasn't surprised, her mind went blank.

"Jenny..." Nick began, but was cut off as she swung the door shut in his face. She stared at it for a long time, and his shadow didn't move. Eventually, his voice came again.

"Jenny, your being...well...I don't know what you being! Irrational, I guess! Paranoid...kindof!"

"Paranoid?" She mouthed to herself, in disbelief. Had he not proved that all of hewr insecurities abour 'Claudia Brown' were well deserved? Had he not looked at her in a way that had made Jenny want to rip her own heart out? Hadn't he? It took her a while to realise he was still speaking.

"-and I know that your hurt...but I don't know what you want me to do-" He was cut off as she swung the foor open again. She stared at him, her eyes narrowed, and looked him over, from head to toe. When she looked back at him, she saw him doing the same to her, with his eyes wide and popping. When his eyes, finally, found hers again, she rolled them and-hands on hips- she stood aside to let him in.

He followed her through to the lounge, where his eyes found the pile of destroyed possesions. He pointed to them.

"What happened there?" He said, his voice low, his eyes avoiding her and her...assets!

"I was venting my anger!" She said, honestly, walking past him towards the kitchen, hands still on hips, "Drink?"

"Um..."

"Well, I'm having one, so I'll pour you one, and I won't be offended if you don't drink it!" She said with a falsely sweet smile.

Nick couldn't help but allow himself a s#tiny smile and followed her into the kitchen.

The sight of her-of what she was wearing(of how little she was wearing was probably a more appropriqate comment) was almost too much for him as he looked over her, she had her back to him and when she turned, it was to find him staring at her with the eyes of a man who has had his soul tortured.

"Nick..." She said in a hopeless voice, she shrugged, gently, not knowing how to put what she needed to say, "I told you...it's over!" She said, as she handed him his drink.

"Oh, Jenny!" He said, putting his drink on the side and clutching at the tops of her arms, "We can't be over!" He said, looking at him with pleading eyes, eyes so blue, "We've barely even begun!"

"Yeah, well, you have her now...and I'm not going to ask you to chose between, I'm just going to make it easy on you and tell you straight: I can't be with someone when I've seen them look at someone else that way! With me standing right there!" She spoke with complete disbelief and gestured helplessly, "I can't help the way I feel anymore than you can, Nick, adn I know that you love her..."

"But, Jenny, we haven't even had a proper shot, yet, we haven't even tried!"

"I tried, Nick, I've been trying for months, to get you to notice me, but you just don't, it's as if I'm completely invisible to you!"

Nick was shaking his head through this entire speech and Jenny found her voice filled with tears and thick with pain.

"It can't be over!" He said, sadly.

"Then how come it is?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Then how come it is?"

Jenny couldn't stand the look of complete anguish on Nick's face when she said those words and it took him all of three seconds to grip her shoulders harder, pull her into a kiss that pushed everything from her mind, release her and then just look at her. He turned back to the table, lifted his glass to his lips and down the entire drink. Jenny watched as he turned back to look at her with those blue...so blue...

Then, once again, she was in his arms and she was mentally hating herself as she had to force herself to pull away.

"Nick...Nick...!" But he wouldn't listen and he was sobbing as he tried, once again, to kiss her, but she stepped away, nonetheless, putting the table between them, "God damn it, Nick, do you have to make this worse for the both of us? You have to leave, right now, because...I don't know what we might do, what we might regret doing, if you stay!" She said, honestly, her voice having faded to a whisper by the end. Nick stepped forwards and leant his forhead to hers, his hot breath tingling on her lips, and his hand twining with hers.

"What if I don't care?" He said, and she gasped as his hand grasped the hem of her silk night-gown and pulled it up her thigh in the same second that his lips caught her own and she twisted her hands through his hand. She leant her head back as his kisses traveled down her neck and to her collar bone, her strap having fallen from her shoulder once again. When his kisses traveled to her shouder, she clutched tighter at his hair and gently pulled his head away, bending his neck ever so slightly backwards.

"Nick...I said no!" She said, and then she gently untwisted her hands from his hair and kissed his lips one last time. She caught his eyes and he saw something in them that hurt him more than her words, it was complete indifference, There was no emotion, no love, no hate, nothing.

He nodded, slowly, and turned to walk away.

When Jenny heard the door slam, she sank into her dining room chair and dropped her head into her hands. She couldn't believe it...

In those few short minutes, she had been led to believe that everything would be alright, but it wouldn't. Nothing would ever be the same again, and what it had been before Claudia was _right_! There was nothing that could change it! Jenny kept telling herself that, knowing that it probably wasn't true, but wanting it to be all the same.

She wanted to hate him! She wanted to never want to see him again! But what she wanted more than that was to have him love her, to have him touch her and to be with him for the rest of her life!

But how could she do that? It was never going to happen, there were to many obsticles! Actually, there was just one.

And her name was Claudia Brown!

* * *

Nick climbed into his car and slammed the dor, punching the steering wheel, venting his anger in the same way Jenny had, through anger. He pounded the wheel untill his anger gave way to tears and he sobbed into his hands. When he had regained himself, eventually, he lifted his head from the steering wheel and looked back up at Jenny's house. He saw the lounge light go off, then a few seconds later, the bedroom light went on. Nick waited for that light to go out, but it didn't. She must eb reasding or something. Nick shrugged.

Not his problem what she got up to late at night.

Unfortunately.

No, he told himself, he couldn't think about that now or he would turn on his heel, march right back up to the house and take her, because they were made for each other! Nick cursed himself for thinking that when she, the woman he had obsessed about for months, and eventually given up on, the woman he had been very close to loving and who he had lost was waiting for him! Claudia Brown!

He still couldn't quite believe it! It was more than incredible! After nearly two years, she had come back to him! His heart began to race again as he started up the engine and glanced once more back at Jenny's house. He did love Jenny, but he also loved Claudia! It was confusing, because they were different people, they just shared the same shell!

They both had beautiful souls, they were the same yet so, so, so different!

Claudia, for example, was gentle and kind, sweet and meek!

Jenny, on the other hand, was bold and funny, sweet and in no way meek! She was strong and brave and Claudia was both of those things, but in a different way! Claudia was brave when she had to be, Jenny was brave because it was how she was!

Nick was still thinking about the two women when he pulled up at the ARC. He felt like he hadn't slept in eyars, when he walked into the building and the bright, white lights blinded him. He was met by Abby and Connor who were bouncing on their heels.

"What?" Nick said, taking his coffee from Abby and taking his coat off.

"She's awake!" Connor said, his voice having risen a few octave's since the last time Nick had seen him, Cutter guessed it was out of excitment.

"Wha-Have you spoken to her?" Nick asked, beginning to run out of the locker room, the kids were on his tail.

"Yeah, I mean she's been asking for you!" Abby said, as they turned into the room where Nick knew Claudia was resting.

She was sitting up in bed, Sarah sat on the end speaking to her, and turned when Nick walked into the room. Her face lit up when she spied him and she threw back the bedclothes and ran to him, throwing her arsma round his neck adn holding him to her.

He wrapped his arms around her, slightly awkwardly, being careful not to hurt her and kissed her hair.

"I missed you!" He said and he felt her sigh.

"I know!" Was all she said. Nick walked with her over to the bed with her and sat down. Sarah stood up and went to stand with Connor and Abby, who were still standing in the doorway. They stepped into the shadows but stayed nearby.

"So, what happened? Did time keep going, after I left I mean?" Nick asked, "I used to think that I'd changed something to...cause you not to exist, and to make Jenny exist in your place..."

"Jenny?" She asked and his heart leapt again, to hear her speaking was to put the fact that she was here into complete perspective. It was true, she was here, in his arms, in the ARC, in this world! "Who's Jenny?"

"Oh, she's the woman who was at the shopping mall with the team! I take it you've met our new members!"

"Sarah and Becker, yeah, they're nice!" Claudia said, slightly colder than she usually would have, "Anyway, tell me about Jenny!"

"Um, yeah, sure, she's really cool! She's funny and great, and she kind of looks just like you!" He said, slowly, making sure she understood, "As in, your completely identicle!"

"Oh, so she's like my evil twin!" Claudia said, harshly, pulling away from him and standing up.

Nick looked at her. She was different than he remembered her, she was harsh and distant. Nick remembered a light-hearted, sweet and defenseless Claudia! There were many different types of Claudia, the sarcastic Claudia who always got the better of Lester, the sweet Claudia who was forever making jokes. The helpless, defenseless Claudia who had been trapped in the golfing hotel!

As Nick watched her, he realized, with dismay, that this was a Claudia who had been through god knew what without him. She had changed, as he had, and she was different to the last time he had seen her. He gaped at her as she turned to him, her arms folded, her eyes cold, her eyebrows raised.

"So, have you missed me?" She said.

"I told you that I have!" He said, bemused, and he stood up. He touched her arm, "Whats the matter with you?"

She looked up, defiantly, at him for a while, but then her face broke and she was sobbing in his ars.

"I'm sorry!" She was gasping over and over again, and he rubbed her arms.

"I think you need some air!" He said and he began to walk with her towards the balcony.

When they stepped out into the cold air, Claudia lifted her face and stared into the dark sky.

"What time is it?" Nick asked and Claudia glanced down at her watch. _Weird_, Nick thought, she'd never worn a watch last time he'd seen her!

"Nearly ten!" She said, and she yawned, leaning on the railings.

Nick sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a packet of Richmond Superking.

"Want one?" He offered and she laughed.

"God no, disgusting habit! I thought you gave up years ago!" She said, curiously.

"Yeah, well...hang on, I never told you I smoked! Did I? I haven't smoked propperly since..." He paused, confused.

"Well, obviously you did! Or how else would I know that little bit of trivia!" Claudia said, after a minute, "Anyway, I've had enough air now, I'll just go back inside now...!" And she walked, to quickly, back into the building, leaving Nick to stare absently after her.


End file.
